You can’t take this away from me: Proposition 8 broke our hearts, but it did not end our fight.

Like many in our movement, I found myself in Southern California last weekend. There, I had the opportunity to speak with a man who said that Proposition 8 completely changed the way he saw his own neighborhood. Every “Yes on 8” sign was a slap. For this man, for me, for the 18,000 couples who married in California, to LGBT people and the people who love us, its passage was worse than a slap in the face. It was nothing short of heartbreaking.

But it is not the end. Fifty-two percent of the voters of California voted to deny us our equality on Tuesday, but they did not vote our families or the power of our love out of existence; they did not vote us away.

As free and equal human beings, we were born with the right to equal families. The courts did not give us this right—they simply recognized it. And although California has ceased to grant us marriage licenses, our rights are not subject to anyone’s approval. We will keep fighting for them. They are as real and as enduring as the love that moves us to form families in the first place. There are many roads to marriage equality, and no single roadblock will prevent us from ultimately getting there.

And yet there is no denying, as we pick ourselves up after losing this most recent, hard-fought battle, that we’ve been injured, many of us by neighbors who claim to respect us. We see them in the supermarkets, on the sidewalk, and think “how could you?”

By the same token, we know that we are moving in the right direction. In 2000, California voters passed Proposition 22 by a margin of 61.4% to 38.6%. On Tuesday, fully 48% of Californians rejected Proposition 8. It wasn’t enough, but it was a massive shift. Nationally, although two other anti-marriage ballot measures won, Connecticut defeated an effort to hold a constitutional convention ending marriage, New York’s state legislature gained the seats necessary to consider a marriage law, and FMA architect Marilyn Musgrave lost her seat in Congress. We also elected a president who supports protecting the entire community from discrimination and who opposes discriminatory amendments.

Yet on Proposition 8 we lost at the ballot box, and I think that says something about this middle place where we find ourselves at this moment. In 2003, twelve states still had sodomy laws on the books, and only one state had civil unions. Four years ago, marriage was used to rile up a right-wing base, and we were branded as a bigger threat than terrorism. In 2008, most people know that we are not a threat. Proposition 8 did not result from a popular groundswell of opposition to our rights, but was the work of a small core of people who fought to get it on the ballot. The anti-LGBT message didn’t rally people to the polls, but unfortunately when people got to the polls, too many of them had no problem with hurting us. Faced with an economy in turmoil and two wars, most Californians didn’t choose the culture war. But faced with the question—brought to them by a small cadre of anti-LGBT hardliners – of whether our families should be treated differently from theirs, too many said yes.

But even before we do the hard work of deconstructing this campaign and readying for the future, it’s clear to me that our continuing mandate is to show our neighbors who we are.

Justice Lewis Powell was the swing vote in Bowers, the case that upheld Georgia’s sodomy law and that was reversed by Lawrence v. Texas five years ago. When Bowers was pending, Powell told one of his clerks “I don’t believe I’ve ever met a homosexual.” Ironically, that clerk was gay, and had never come out to the Justice. A decade later, Powell admitted his vote to uphold Georgia’s sodomy law was a mistake.

Everything we’ve learned points to one simple fact: people who know us are more likely to support our equality.

In recent years, I’ve been delivering this positive message: tell your story. Share who you are. And in fact, as our families become more familiar, support for us increases. But make no mistake: I do not think we have to audition for equality. Rather, I believe that each and every one of us who has been hurt by this hateful ballot measure, and each and every one of us who is still fighting to be equal, has to confront the neighbors who hurt us. We have to say to the man with the Yes on 8 sign—you disrespected my humanity, and I am not giving you a pass. I am not giving you a pass for explaining that you tolerate me, while at the same time denying that my family has a right to exist. I do not give you permission to say you have me as a “gay friend” when you cast a vote against my family, and my rights.

Wherever you are, tell a neighbor what the California Supreme Court so wisely affirmed: that you are equal, you are human, and that being denied equality harms you materially. Although I, like our whole community, am shaken by Prop 8’s passage, I am not yet ready to believe that anyone who knows us as human beings and understands what is at stake would consciously vote to harm us.

This is not over. In California, our legal rights have been lost, but our human rights endure, and we will continue to fight for them.

Charlie Dorsett

My name is Charlie, but if your looking for my work, I go by C. E. Dorsett. I write scifi, fantasy, and a touch of horror. I like to play with gothic, steampunk, decopunk, epic fantasy, and wuxia. I love to tell stories and talk about books, movies, series, and music.

Marriage under Fire: The Ban, The Evangelist, and the Fraud

C.E. Dorsett
As I read the news this morning, I thought to myself: I hope and pray that someday soon, I will have no stories of hate, bigotry, or discrimination to blog about. I get worried sometimes that I sound like a broken record, because the same divisive tactics are being used over and again from state to state, and internationally. If you ignore the problem, it only grows. So here we go again:

The Ban:

Wisconsin has become the seventh state to place a constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of same-sex couples on the 2006 ballot.

Passed by the state Assembly by 62-31 on Tuesday night, the amendment takes the familiar route of defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but goes on to outlaw recognition of “any legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals (Gay.com).”

Don't you just love how it is no longer acceptable among fear- and hate-mongers to just be against same-gender marriage, they have to ban the segregated versions of it too. What do these people have against the family?

The Evangelist:

A longtime Presbyterian minister and avowed “lesbian evangelist” faces a church trial Thursday over allegations that she violated church mandates by marrying two lesbian couples (Gay.com).

Now, they are attacking ritual marriage too? Well, guess this destroys their argument that people can at least have the rite even if they don't have the rights. I hope she is not removed from office. She is doing God's work.

The Fraud:

The Massachusetts attorney general's office is launching a criminal investigation into whether signatures on an anti-same-sex marriage petition were forged, the Associated Press reported (Gay.com).

They attack the institution of marriage and the clergy who support it, and they will even commit fraud to undo equal rights in Mass. It makes you feel sorry for these people in a way doesn't it. They are so lost in their own prejudice that they would break the law to see it forced on others. It's sad, and a little scary.

A Note:A certain bow-tied idiot on MSNBC has blogged about how Gay marriage will legalize Polygamy...Why it would not legalize Polyandry as well, I do not know, but he has his knickers in a twist about this. This apples and oranges thing is wearing thin. Plural marriage has a negative emotional and economic impact on those involved. It is a separate issue. [Ugh] If Rachel Maddow were not on his show, I wouldn't even know it was on.

Equal Marriage Roundup

C.E. Dorsett
Those who push hate and bigotry found an ally in in Bill “I can misdiagnosis you from a distance, give me a cat” Frist:

The Senate is planning on a vote this year for a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage (Gay.com).

Oooo, they want to get peoples bigotry or lack there of on record so they can use it against them. While they will probably get away with this blatant act of gay baiting, I can only hope they get called out and held accountable for using hate as a political tactic. It is frankly, unconscious able that we allow this to happen in this country.

There is a bright light out there:

Same-sex couples across the United States applied for marriage licenses at their city and county offices Tuesday as part of an annual campaign for marriage equality (Gay.com).

I wish I was in the loop on this. As someone who has a licensed domestic partnership in the state of California, who has found himself living in Missouri dreaming of Massachusetts, I find the confusion in law concerning my personal relationship to be more than confusing... I can only hope that more protests shine a light on these issues.

This is about more than a piece of paper:

Gay marriage and civil partnerships are good for the health of lesbians and gay men, researchers said Tuesday in London (Gay.com).

A Dark Night in the Heartland

Does he really think people are that stupid? He has done more to eliminate civil liberties and to dash human rights than anyone short of the real dictators, but he has his dreams. Good grief.

Frivolous Lawsuits??

What frivolous lawsuits? O, do you mean the one my father can't file for being fired after being injured on the job because the republicans have rigged the legal system in such a way that he can't? O, please ihr Führer, save those corporations and doctors from any responsibility for any harm they cause.

Ownership Society, What a crock of lies!!

Okay, ihr Führer, tell me again why poor people should help rich people become richer while taking away the only safety net they have. I am afraid to say it, but if it wasn't for social security, I don't know what my parents would do. {sigh} I am just to upset to talk about this right now.

Testing every child with no funding.

What a brilliant idea! First of all, bulimia is not good for models, and it's not good for the mind. Test scores mean nothing. What is more important is that our students learn to APPLY what they learn. I can spout off quite a few facts about quite a few things, but if I can't USE that knowledge it counts for nothing. Dogs can memorize and repeat tricks on command, but they can't build a computer. Applied Knowledge is what we need to find a way to instill in our kids.

Faith Based BS

As someone who was brutalized physically and psychologically by "Faith Based" institutions, I have to say I don't think religious labels count for much. It's what is in a person's heart that matters, not what they call themselves. Having said that, I have to tell you, FAITH BASED CHARITIES COULD ALWAYS GET THE FUNDS, they just couldn't use it to proselytize or to fund worship services. If we really want to help people we need to look at RESULTS as much as methods, and only fund constitutional charities that work.

Protecting Marriage at the cost of Human Dignity

What are you protecting marriage from? Brian and I have bee together for seven years in a monogamous relationship that we consider a marriage. You just want to feel special because you can visit Laura if, God forbid, she were hospitalized. Or maybe you want to make sure Brian can't inherit if something happened to me. I don't know what you think you are protecting.

All you are doing is depriving me of my basic human rights. Love is love Ihr Führer, accept that.

Protestors are so cool!!!

They chanted "Bush lied people died!!!" Bush looks like he did during the now infamous 7 minutes in Fahrenheit 9/11. He just doesn't know what to do. LOL

The Crosses on the Podium

Read the Bible. Compare the actions of the Bush administration with what Jesus taught, especially Matthew 5-8, and see if Bush comes close. You make Jesus weep Mr Bush! How does that feel?

Marriage under Fire: The Ban, The Evangelist, and the Fraud

C.E. Dorsett
As I read the news this morning, I thought to myself: I hope and pray that someday soon, I will have no stories of hate, bigotry, or discrimination to blog about. I get worried sometimes that I sound like a broken record, because the same divisive tactics are being used over and again from state to state, and internationally. If you ignore the problem, it only grows. So here we go again:

The Ban:

Wisconsin has become the seventh state to place a constitutional amendment banning legal recognition of same-sex couples on the 2006 ballot.

Passed by the state Assembly by 62-31 on Tuesday night, the amendment takes the familiar route of defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, but goes on to outlaw recognition of “any legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals (Gay.com).”

Don't you just love how it is no longer acceptable among fear- and hate-mongers to just be against same-gender marriage, they have to ban the segregated versions of it too. What do these people have against the family?

The Evangelist:

A longtime Presbyterian minister and avowed “lesbian evangelist” faces a church trial Thursday over allegations that she violated church mandates by marrying two lesbian couples (Gay.com).

Now, they are attacking ritual marriage too? Well, guess this destroys their argument that people can at least have the rite even if they don't have the rights. I hope she is not removed from office. She is doing God's work.

The Fraud:

The Massachusetts attorney general's office is launching a criminal investigation into whether signatures on an anti-same-sex marriage petition were forged, the Associated Press reported (Gay.com).

They attack the institution of marriage and the clergy who support it, and they will even commit fraud to undo equal rights in Mass. It makes you feel sorry for these people in a way doesn't it. They are so lost in their own prejudice that they would break the law to see it forced on others. It's sad, and a little scary.

A Note:A certain bow-tied idiot on MSNBC has blogged about how Gay marriage will legalize Polygamy...Why it would not legalize Polyandry as well, I do not know, but he has his knickers in a twist about this. This apples and oranges thing is wearing thin. Plural marriage has a negative emotional and economic impact on those involved. It is a separate issue. [Ugh] If Rachel Maddow were not on his show, I wouldn't even know it was on.